Images of a missing man
by Flickering Torch
Summary: Three people lose him, each in a different way. they reflect over their loses when they each see the photo that means the most to them. three one-shots no slash no pairings
1. Regulus Arcaturus Black

Images of a missing man 

**If you recognize it, it's not mine **

_Regulus Arcaturus Black_ ~ everything had been so simple when they were young, before they could question their parents' views. The time had come and gone when Sirius would stand for their jeers and insults, they had gone too far. ***** "Those filthy Mudbloods and blood traitor brats you spend time with dishonor us!" she screeched at Sirius, he merely rolled his eyes at his mothers' ignorance. "You are an ungrateful, arrogant child! You degrade the noble house of black, which your father and I brought you into, with such indifference" she touched a nerve; every thing Sirius had ever wanted to throw at his mother was speeding from his lips. "MAYBE I DON'T WANT TO BE A BLACK" he shouted. "Maybe I want to be a Potter or a Lupin or an Evans, yes mother I'd rather be a muggleborn than stay here. I'd rather be a Muggle than belong to 'the noble house of black'. Because if I was a Muggle I wouldn't be a black and you wouldn't be my mother, I'd have parents who cared more about their eldest son than a name." He smiled maliciously at the effect his words were having on his mother and the look of horror on her face. Very quietly she said "Well, you are no son of mine, I have only one son." Sirius bowed deeply and mockingly before shouting. "I'm glad we agree on that noble Lady Black, you know what? I think I'm going to be a Potter. Ta ta!" he turned from the kitchen, slamming the door as he went and running into an eavesdropping Regulus. "Are you coming, or have they polluted you with this garbage too?" Regulus stared at his brother before shaking his head. "It would break her heart" Sirius laughed mirthlessly before saying, "She hasn't got one of those, I bet she's already got you signed up for Voldemort's army, the old hag" he sneered. Sirius hadn't meant it but his younger brother couldn't help his reaction. He yelped and his right hand flew to his covered left forearm, gripping the sleeve of his robes. Sirius gaped, turned on his heel and grabbed his trunk before slamming the front door.* He gripped the photograph of himself and Sirius as children, the only one he had managed to save from his mothers purge, more tightly in his hand. He should have gone with his brother, he knew that now. "You have displeased me." The cold high voice spoke with out emotion. "Yes" his voice was steady, he had known what the consequences of his actions would be, he had accepted that he had come here to die. "You betrayed me and now you know too much; you can not be aloud to live." Voldemort advanced on him but he merely nodded. As his master spoke the fatal words, he remembered that everything had been so simple, he and his brother had played and laughed, before they could challenge their parents' views.


	2. Remus John Lupin

Images of a missing man 

**If you recognize it, it's not mine **

_Remus John Lupin- _Padfoot had helped him, defied the ministry to become an Animagus for him, to make the transformation bearable. Sirius Black had given a werewolf friendship and happiness at Hogwarts. He had always been there, but now he wasn't. He was rotting in a cell in Azkaban, two dementors guarding his door day and night, driving him mad. He deserved it, if anyone deserved it, he did. He had been the spy, the traitor and murderer. He reminded himself of this firmly before tearing the stranger who had once been his best friend from the moving photograph. He shredded the pieces before setting them alight with his wand. Sirius Black's haughty good looks were no longer grinning out of the picture but smoldering into ash, leaving the good people, those whose lives had been clean of Voldemort's stain, intact within the picture. Only Lily and James, himself and Peter remained on the parchment. Sirius had betrayed James and Lily; they were dead, on Sirius' information, only their son Harry had survived. Black had taken the Potters from Remus and Peter too, the poor gullible fool. He had tracked Sirius down, tried to duel him for what he did to them, to us. He had of course lost, he was no match for black, all that was left of him was a finger, that and a dozen Muggle corpses and the rubble of the destroyed alleyway. All that destruction with one curse, and he had laughed as the dust cleared and he saw he had systematically hacked away one of the few remaining ropes holding Remus to earth and making life worth living. To think though that Remus had suspected poor Peter to be the spy. He would have never expected Sirius to betray his friends; he had always insisted that they, the marauders, were his family. Obviously blood was thicker then water. He had chosen to live up to the family name and follow his brother and cousins into the family business; the service of the dark lord. His parents would have been so proud, had seen the light, joined the death eaters to bring some glory to the family name. He was alone now, all thanks to black. Padfoot would never help him again.


	3. Harry James Potter

Images of a missing man 

**If you recognize it, it's not mine **

Harry James Potter- Sirius was gone. The thought struck him again as he looked at the only picture of his godfather he owned. It had been taken before Azkaban had robbed him of his youthful and somewhat haughty good looks and he had been best man at the potters wedding. He was smiling and waving without a care in the world, not knowing he would be murdered by his deranged cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, that he would fall through the veil of whispering souls, or that it would all be the fault of someone who hadn't been born yet; Harry. Sirius did not know how much that truth haunted Harry. If only he had remembered Snape was in the order sooner. If only he had mastered the curious impulse to look in the Pensieve, Snape would not have stopped the Occlumency lessons. If only he had practiced closing his mind, ridding it off all emotion, like he was supposed to. If only he wasn't so bloody stupid to believe the vision wasn't a setup, or to believe Kreacher when he said Sirius had gone. 'If only' thoughts weren't going to help him now, they could not relieve the guilt he felt, the only thing that would do that would be to find some way apologize, have closure. Harry could not contact Sirius on the two way mirror as Sirius had not had his with him that night. His godfather would not come back as a ghost, he would have chosen to go on, nearly headless nick had told him so. Harry supposed this was what funerals were for, to say good-bye and make amends. Sirius would have no funeral; his body lay beyond the veil in the department of mysteries. He was the closest thing Harry ever had to a true family, Sirius had always been fighting. His pureblood family, alongside the order in the first


End file.
